


Girls will be Boys and Boys will be Girls

by patchfire



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-11
Updated: 2013-01-11
Packaged: 2017-11-25 03:11:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/634499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patchfire/pseuds/patchfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written as part of the 31 Days of Puckurt Drabbles for January 2013 and originally posted to the Puckurt LJ community as a series of daily drabbles. After 'Lola' fails to make a splash, Puck decides to put more effort into dressing in drag.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Girls will be Boys and Boys will be Girls

After Lola's failed debut, Puck realized what the problem was. Sure, he'd put on a dress and a wig, but he'd just looked like Puck in a dress and a wig. If they were really going to win, he was obviously going to have to put more effort into it. 

Make-up. He was probably going to need to do make-up. Sure, he could do the stage stuff they wore for performances, but the point of that wasn't to be noticed as wearing make-up. He was pretty sure he was screwed when it came to actual make-up. 

Sure, he could ask one of the girls, but most of them were used to putting make-up on themselves, not on somebody else, and plus, any one of them would tell all the others, meaning Lola's big (re)introduction wouldn't make as big of a splash. 

The make-up counter at Elder-Beerman isn't really an option either. Even if he could do it without seeing anyone he knows, word would still get around Lima that a guy walked in for a makeover. 

No, there was really only one option left, and Puck realized it wasn't a bad one. Kurt was used to doing makeovers with the girls, putting make-up on other people, and he had always been good at keeping secrets. Puck smiled to himself and headed down the hall. 

"Hey, Kurt, got a minute?"

"So you want to be an actual drag queen?" Kurt said when Puck finished talking. "And by process of elimination, you realized I could help. Well. You are correct, I can." Kurt tilts his head, studying Puck for a moment. "There's a drag queen night at Scandals once a week. You could test it out there, too, after we finish."

"I didn't say I wanted to be a drag queen!" Puck protested, but then he stopped. "I guess that could be kinda cool, though." He shrugged. "Okay. What do we have to do?"

"Who knew Sue Sylvester would help you uncover your inner drag queen?" Kurt mused. "We'll go shopping. Are you free after school tomorrow?"

Puck nodded. "Yeah, that's cool."

"Excellent." 

Shopping involved more than just make-up. They went to the same store with cheap wigs that Puck had bought the blonde wig at, but Kurt bought a darker wig, insisting it went better with his skin tone. Puck just shrugged and went along with it, because hell, maybe Kurt was right. It's not like Puck knew a lot about those kind of things. 

Shopping also ended up meaning a different dress. Apparently blue floral was out. Puck tried to argue about that, because he was already going to sport a different wig, but Kurt didn't budge. Kurt disappeared in the drugstore at one point and Puck didn't know what that meant, but he didn't like the look on Kurt's face afterward. All the bags went home with Kurt, who insisted that he'd be over early the next morning to get Puck ready for Lola to make her debut.

"You do realize that Coach Sylvester is most likely wrong about the necessity of someone being either a drag queen or trans?"

Puck shrugged. "You can't argue I'm not doing my part, either way."

"Early the next morning" meant "at the ass-crack of dawn," and shortly after, Puck realized why Kurt bought a second dress, as well as why Kurt disappeared at the drugstore.

"You can wear the maxi dress we bought yesterday with the sandals, or you can wear the dress you bought—and shave your legs."

"Uh." Puck swallowed. "I don't think I'm that committed to life as a drag queen."

"I didn't think so." Kurt smiled and gestured to the dress and shoes. "Put those on and then we'll work on the hair and the wig."

After Kurt finished, Puck looked in the mirror. "I admit it. I'm surprised." 

"You do make a rather excellent drag queen," Kurt said. "Well, Lola, are you ready?"

Puck decided within five minutes of entering the school that he had to get something amazing for Kurt, in exchange for the help. No one gave Puck a second look, not on the way to his locker or on the way to class. Puck even heard a few guys whispering about the 'new chick.' He smirked to himself and managed to get through his first class without a single person noticing. When he walked into second period, Mike did a double take. 

"Dude!" 

"Is that how you address a lady?" Puck asked. 

"But…really?"

"Hey, turns out we don't need a guy in a dress, we need a drag queen. I'm not good enough?"

Mike shrugged. "Okay. Still Lola?"

"Yep."

 

Kurt felt proud of himself as he listened to the few whispers that were starting to be circulated. Some people thought Lola was a new kid; a few had realized Lola was actually Puck. Either way, someone who wasn't Kurt was cross-dressing, and he could be proud of helping the team without having to do something he wasn't personally comfortable with. 

So, yes, Kurt felt pretty good the moment that Blaine stepped beside him as they headed towards glee club rehearsal.

"Have you heard about Puck?" Blaine asked. "I can't believe he's taking it so far."

"He always said he could wear a dress to school and make it look cool," Kurt pointed out. "It's no surprise that he wanted to make sure Lola's first appearance didn't suggest otherwise."

"I wonder who he had help him," Blaine said, then continued without waiting for a response from Kurt. "I have to say, as a gay man, I'm not all that comfortable with drag. It wasn't fair of Coach Sylvester to ask you, but I don't think anyone should be dressing in drag."

"You didn't mind too much at Scandals last fall?" Kurt didn't stop himself before the sentence left his mouth, but Blaine didn't take offense.

"I just ignored them. I'm just not a fan. Do you think it was Santana?"

"Please." Kurt rolled his eyes. "Santana would not have been able to enhance his skin tone, wig, and eye color all with just the eyeshadow."

"You helped him? That was why you were busy yesterday?" Blaine drew away from Kurt, and his face contorted. When Kurt sat down, Blaine didn't sit beside him, and Kurt frowned. Helping Puck with a drag outfit wasn't an offense to Kurt, and he didn't know why it was to Blaine.

 

Puck was extremely happy with the reaction from the rest of New Directions. Sure, Blaine made a weird face and then shot a strange look at Kurt, but it actually took Sugar a few minutes into rehearsal before she turned to Puck and said, "Oh, you aren't a new girl!"

"This is just a preview of the Lola experience," Puck assured them. "I wanted to make sure I was ready for New York."

"I applaud your industriousness," Coach Sylvester said. "This is the kind of teamwork we need. Make sure you have everything you need for the competition in your luggage when we leave for Chicago."

"Yes, yes, of course we appreciate your willingness." Mr. Schuester looked distressed. "But, Puck, I'm not sure we'll really need Lola."

And that was how it went. Some people hated Lola, some people loved her, and in the end, Puck packed up all of the stuff to take to Chicago, just in case. He also stole one of his mother's old purses and stuffed it with the makeup and a lace handkerchief, which came in handy on the bus, when the seat next to Puck was abruptly occupied by a crying Kurt.

Puck never said anything, he just got out the handkerchief and handed it over, and when Blaine asked if he could swap rooms with anyone, Puck raised his hand. Blaine accepted before asking who he'd be rooming with, and Puck smirked. 

That wasn't Blaine's smartest move, since Kurt was still sniffling and Finn kept glaring at Blaine. The dumbass obviously hadn't remembered Finn and Puck were best friends. 

In the end, Mr. Schuester stopped Lola's national debut in its tracks, and Puck performed as himself, not a drag queen. A drag queen wasn't required to win, in the end, and Puck felt relieved and disappointed at the same time. 

The last weeks of school rushed by. He finally passed the stupid geography test and they graduated, headed who knows where. Most of Puck's money for LA was gone, headed to who knows where with Puck's deadbeat father. 

He heard about Rachel choking back at her NYADA audition, and he heard about the NYADA woman showing up in Chicago at Nationals. What Puck didn't hear about, not for days, was that Rachel got rejected. Outright rejected, not even waitlisted. That's all Puck heard for two more days, too, about Rachel and Finn getting turned down and not knowing what the fall would bring, or however Rachel put it. 

On the third day, Puck got a phone call from Kurt. "I'm sure you're done with Lola, but in case you aren't, you should google 'drag queens' and 'Columbus'," Kurt offered. "I saw an advertisement when I was in Columbus yesterday. Or the day before. I've been avoiding Lima."

"Yeah?" Puck muttered back, because it was early, and why would he know that Kurt was avoiding Lima. 

"An ex-boyfriend that's still good friends with Rachel, and the only NYADA acceptance letter in Ohio? I'm not very popular when Rachel's visiting Finn, which has been most of the last few days."

"Oh." Puck sat up. "You got in? Congrats."

"Thank you!" Kurt sounded genuinely appreciative of the congratulations, which made Puck wonder how many he'd actually gotten, if Rachel had been rejected. "But yes, Columbus and drag queens. Bye."

Puck stared at his phone for a few minutes, then shrugged. Maybe whatever was in Columbus with drag queens involved some money.

 

Puck never was sure exactly which link about Columbus and drag queens that Kurt had specifically seen, but by mid-July, Puck had a tiny nasty apartment in Columbus and a job that didn't involve getting paid for sex. The job did involve having to make that final commitment to the drag queen thing; the first time Puck shaved his legs, there was more blood than hair in the tub, he was convinced. 

But it was a good job, performing three nights a week and helping in the kitchen another three, enough to get him the tiny apartment. Puck actually felt like he was making a legitimate living, even if it was a bit unorthodox. 

Six months in Columbus, and Puck got a raise and a shift in schedule, performing four nights a week and only working in the kitchen two nights. He went back to Lima around Thanksgiving, saw some of his old friends, and dodged their questions about what he was doing. Some of them even thought was actually in LA, and Puck didn't correct them. In the end, he wasn't in Lima, and that was what really mattered. 

Puck worked in Columbus for nearly a year before Pride came around, and the drag show became a really hot ticket. Two days later, Puck got a phone call from someone whose cousin had dragged him to the show. The cousin lived in Columbus, but the guy on the phone lived in New York, and he offered Puck a job. No more kitchen duty, six nights a week performing, and a raise. Puck accepted it without thinking, packing up the few things in his apartment and buying a bus ticket from Columbus to New York. 

When Puck arrived in New York, he finally realized he had no idea where he was going to sleep, especially not before his first larger paycheck.

Puck figured he could find a Starbucks or something and use their wifi, at least until he could decide where there would be a cheap motel room in a place where he wouldn't get mugged. He sat in the Starbucks for two hours before starting to look, even, and an hour after that, he decided he's more confused than when he started. 

Finally, Puck decided to try and get some insider information. The last he had heard, Rachel had made her way to New York, though not at NYADA, and Puck didn't have any contact information for her anyway. Kurt was in New York, though, and Puck didn't have Kurt's number either, but he did have Finn's at least. 

A short conversation later, where Puck skirted around exactly what his job was, Puck had an address and a phone number. 

"Hello?" Kurt's voice sounded the same as it had in high school, even though for Puck, it felt like a lot longer than just a year since they were graduating. 

"Kurt? It's Puck. Finn gave me your number, I hope it's okay," Puck rambled. "But I needed some tips from someone in New York."

"Oh. Certainly." Kurt sounded surprised, which Puck figured was a fair thing. Puck hadn't talked to anyone from Lima since Thanksgiving the year before, and Kurt hadn't been in Lima then. 

"Yeah, I need a cheap motel or something for the next week or so, in a place I won't get everything stolen," Puck explained. "Got a new job but I won't get my first paycheck for at least a week."

"Oh, you're in New York?" Kurt sighed. "Honestly, Puck. Did Finn give you my address?"

"Yeah?"

"You can stay here. It's not huge, but it's a lot safer than any no-tell motel." Kurt's voice shifted from exasperated to a little warmer. "You never did say if you looked up Columbus?"

Puck laughed. "How do you think I ended up in New York? Some guy visiting his cousin for Pride last month. They want me to change my stage name, though. Lolas are apparently a dime a dozen."

"Well, I'm glad I could at least nudge you along a career path," Kurt said. "But yes, my apartment's open to you for as long as you need. I'll be home in about an hour, so any time after that. We'll work out a key and things tomorrow."

"Thanks, man," Puck said gratefully. "If you're sure."

"Definitely," Kurt answered. "Lima ex-pats have to stick together."


End file.
